[Info-vax] OT: Elephants Can't Dance

[Arne Vajhøj]

Neil Rieck wrote:
> As others have pointed out elsewhere, maybe OpenVMS should be put into
> the public domain under the GPL (general public license).

Public domain and GPL are not compatible.

It could be open source under GPL.

I don't think the idea would make much sense.

The existing VMS customers will still consider moving
to a more future proof platform.

It would not get many new customers - there are plenty
of open source operating systems out there, so being
open source is not unique in any way.

>                                                           On the flip
> side, OpenVMS should be sold to a company which currently has no OS so
> there is no sibling rivalry.
> 
> 1) Intel (they still use VMS in their fabs)
> 2) Oracle (VMS still goes hand-in-hand with RDB)
> 3) IBM (their field services people maintain VMS
> 4) SUN (they don't seem to be willing to pull-the-plug on any project)

Would have made sense 10 years ago.

I doubt that any of these companies would be interested.

Arne